Al Kipone schreef op 10 juni 2020 15:08:
Republicans fear Trump’s weakened standing jeopardizes the party in November
Strategists over the past week have suggested myriad ways embattled incumbents could tiptoe around Trump’s rolling controversies, as opposed to embracing them, according to participants in private discussions and conference calls with donors, many of which are informal check-ins and catch-up sessions due to the pandemic.
“
It’s subtle stuff, like maybe your senator should try to duck Kasie Hunt in the hallway,” one of the strategists said, referring to the NBC News correspondent whose on-camera questioning of Republican senators last week over the use of military force against peaceful protesters was widely replayed. “It’s all about operating outside of the tumult of the moment with him, but leaving yourself in a position for him to rally for you this fall.”
This operative continued: “Look —
no one can afford at this point to get on the wrong side of Trump. But you can kind of play it cool and don’t have to comment on everything he does.”
Josh Holmes, a senior adviser to Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.), said: “It’s such a dynamic atmosphere that making political decisions, particularly rash political decisions, are guaranteed to be regrettable.
If the next five months are like the last five months, then no one has any idea what the environment will be like in November.”
Frank Luntz, a Republican pollster who frequently leads focus groups, said Trump’s strident rhetoric about crime the past week is likely to hurt him with the voters he needs to expand his base of support.
“He’s isolated linguistically,” Luntz said. “He’s talking about
‘law and order.’ The last time I heard that was the 1968 campaign. His rhetoric is 50 years old. The world has changed. … He’s got 40 percent of the country completely enthralled with him.” But, he added, “This is not a lexicon that gets you elected.
This is a lexicon that gets you to 45 percent and not more.”
White House officials said they have privately counseled Republican candidates and their advisers to stay calm, and pointed to a Wall Street Journal-NBC News poll this week that showed
Trump’s approval rating at 45 percent, down one percentage point from April. They said they argued that despite everything that’s going on, the president’s approval rating fell only one percentage point — although that same recent survey showed Trump trailing Biden by seven percentage points.
Trump’s team and other Republicans also are buoyed by the May unemployment rate of 13.3 percent as an indication that the economy may be recovering. Polls have consistently shown that voters see Trump’s handling of the economy as one of his appealing attributes.
“The most important data point is that Trump is leading Biden on the economy,” said Scott Reed, senior political strategist for the U.S. Chamber of Commerce. He cited a Fox News poll in late May that showed Trump beating Biden on the economy, although it also had
more voters trusting Biden than Trump to handle the coronavirus pandemic.
“
By Labor Day, if we have a growing economy and a vaccination for first responders, Trump is going to have some real momentum,” Reed said. “That Fox number on the economy is what this election is going to be about. Yes, it’s a referendum on Trump, but
if the economy is roaring back, it’ll benefit Trump.”
“
Republicans look at what’s happening in this country and they
see Maoism in action,” said former House speaker Newt Gingrich (R-Ga.), a Trump ally.
Veel statements in dit stuk geven bij mij de indruk dat er enige paniek is in onder de republikeinen. Sommige statements lijken een tikje over te hellen naar wishful thinking.
www.washingtonpost.com/politics/repub...